Catching Her Heart Pt. 1

Chapter 54

Hermione was exhausted as she headed up the stairs to the dorms, but the image of Fred could still be seen in her mind's eye and his words resounded in her mind."Because," Fred said as they drew away, and he winked at her. "He's going to really miss you..."

So much had happened in the last 24 hours, and she was both physically and mentally exhausted and Fred thought it was funny to spring that on her? She thought Oliver had made it perfectly clear earlier in the year when Sirius Black had first broken into the castle and ravaged the Fat Lady's painting, subsequently leading to the students sleeping in the Great Hall that they were nothing more than friends.

Sure the way Oliver had kissed her cheek the night of his birthday had confused her, but he still hadn't come out and treated her any different, really. He still talked to her like a friend or big brother would talk to their sibling, she thought. She really didn't have anything to base that on other than the way the twins talked to Ginny, but the way Fred had said it, it sounded like more.

She had just flopped on her stomach on her bed, her eyes closing as she welcomed sleep when she felt something scratching along her arm. Opening her eyes, she glanced over and saw a paper cat rubbing back and forth against her arm. She blinked and pushed herself up into a sitting position and the paper cat crawled into her lap like a clumsy kitten, circled once and fell open as it laid down.

Hermione read over the letter from Oliver once, and then again, blinking. Was he really asking what she thought he was? If so, she could not allow it. It was just too much. Pulling her wand out, she tapped the letter and some of it faded away, wanting to keep Oliver's secret about not letting the twins or anyone read the whole thing. She scrambled off the bed after pocketing her wand again, and hurried downstairs to the common room.

"YOU!" she called out loudly, pointing to both of the twins as she moved closer, beckoned to them before holding up the letter.

"US!" the twins called back as they met her halfway, looking at her curiously.

"What is this?" she asked, holding out the letter to them. "What is he trying to do?"

"I don't know," George said, shrugging his shoulders as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "What's it say?" he asked as he peered over his brother's shoulder as his twin took the letter from her.

Fred read over the letter and turned to his twin with a smile. "Looks like our Ollie wants to ask her out to the Quidditch World Cup, if you ask me," he said. "What do you think, Georgie?"

"Looks like it to me, too, Freddie," George said as they both looked back to see Hermione had paled slightly.

"Ask me out?" Hermione reiterated, her voice quivering slightly.

"To the Quidditch World Cup," George said.

"As in..." Hermione blinked, looking at both of them in turn.

"A date," Fred said with a smile.

"No," she said and took the letter back. "No," she said, and shook her head, backing up, her mind replaying every conversation she'd had with Oliver since Halloween. "I can't... I can't let him do this."

"What?" Fred asked.

"Why?" George added.

"B-because," Hermione said, still shaking her head. "It's - it's too expensive. I've seen the cost of the tickets."

"Oh, is that all?" George asked with a grin, causing Hermione to blink in surprise.

"What do you mean?" she asked in confusion.

"Well," Fred said. "If that's your only reason for turning him down and not going, our dad's trying to get tickets from work. We could ask him to see if he can get an extra one. Dad works for the Ministry so he'd get his tickets for free."